Abbas pledges to pay terrorist prisoners and families of dead terrorists
Abbas' speech to a J Street delegation
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "[Israel] said that... the government of the State of Palestine pays money to terrorists. Who are these terrorists? The Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded. From our perspective, we have been paying them, their families, since 1965. For when a person dies, I can’t abandon his family. It is important to me to take care of his family and to pay it... If we will have only 20 or 30 million shekels - and that is what is paid to the Martyrs' families – we will pay it to the Martyrs' families. If the PA won’t have a single penny aside from that, I will pay the Martyrs' families, the prisoners' families, and the families of the wounded. This must be clear."